With rumors continuing to swirl around the NASCAR world about the future body style of the sport’s Chevrolet teams, a new rumor from the automotive world may be the answer to NASCAR fans’ lingering questions.
While Chevrolet officially ended production of the most recent Camaro generation in December 2023, NASCAR teams continued to use the Camaro branding and body style over the past few years.
In fact, rumors of a change for 2026 amounted to little more than a slight redesign of the Camaro ZL1 1LE body style used since 2022.
But rumors of a much more significant change in the works for Chevrolet teams have persisted beyond the tweaks for 2026, with the brand searching for a long-term solution in both the NASCAR Cup Series and other series such as Australian Supercars.
However, a challenge in finding the next model for NASCAR came from a lack of options in real-world production, as Chevrolet has, for the most part, canceled production of most sedan models used in NASCAR throughout the sport’s history.
Nonetheless, a new report by John Irwin of Automotive News says that Chevrolet is planning to relaunch production of the Camaro, something the NASCAR community has latched onto as a sign that while the body could change with a new generation of Camaro, the make might stay the same.
Of course, neither Chevrolet nor General Motors has yet to announce plans to re-up the Camaro as their NASCAR representation long-term, nor has it even confirmed the reports of the Camaro’s rebirth.
The Camaro was typically not a car found in the NASCAR Cup Series, as Chevrolet opted to enter sedans like the Lumina, Monte Carlo, and SS as their on-track model in NASCAR.
When the SS’s life cycle ended, the manufacturer switched its Cup Series body to the Camaro, which had been used in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series since 2013.
Since then, the car has seen three minor overhauls.
The first body, the Camaro ZL1, was replaced by the ZL1 1LE in 2020, with slight aerodynamic changes. When NASCAR introduced the Next Gen car in 2022, the car became the Camaro ZL1 again.
Since the end of Camaro production, Chevrolet has made minor moves to distance its branding from the sport.
In 2025, they removed the Camaro marks from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts and Cup Series, replacing them with Chevrolet, while maintaining the ZL1 badges.
This year, the brand introduced a slight tweak to the body, with a larger hood dome, new rocker panels, and aesthetic changes, like carbon fiber-like tooling similar to the one found in the real-world Camaro’s Carbon Performance Package Accessories Kit.
While this is the plan for Chevrolet going forward, Mike Joy, the longtime play-by-play voice for NASCAR on FOX, said during the Cup Series race at Las Vegas that Chevrolet dealers were shown a render of the future Cup Series body.
Joy, for his part, backed his previous account in a post on social media this week.
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